6 ms·

10 Years of Pomological Watercolors

219 points by fanf2 1y ago

sorokod 1y ago
Thank you Parker Higgins, these are quite lovely.
jandrese 1y ago
[flagged]
- dhosek 1y ago
  poMological nor poRNological
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
DrillShopper 1y ago
There's a related story from the USDA about these: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44287019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44287019
smidgeon 1y ago
Nice apples.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
esquivalience 1y ago
> " This was my first ever project in Python, and in many ways, the start of my life as a programmer. The domino effect here is a little mind-boggling for me." I can certainly relate to this. I started scripting for very obtuse reasons, and quickly started seeing things everywhere which I could apply a little code to and improve my life.
namanyayg 1y ago
Became friends with Parker during my time at the Recurse Center. He's even more obsessed (in a good way) and funny in person! Glad to see his post on the top of HN.
thisisparker 1y ago
Blog post author here! Always happy to see people looking at and reading about these paintings. Happy to answer any questions or job offers people here may have!
- ksherlock 1y ago
  Thanks for your work. I used one of the pomo pictures in a project a few years back.
- biker142541 1y ago
  Echoing the same thanks! I have used as well personally as technique references and in several projects directly.
- parkerhiggins 1y ago
  incredible, impactful, and authentic read!
  - thisisparker 1y ago
    lol thank you other Parker Higgins, always a pleasure to run into you here
- schoen 1y ago
  Hey Parker, congratulations on your NYT daily crossword publications! I solve the Daily every day and have been impressed to see your work there a number of times now.
- 3dsnano 1y ago
  thanks for taking the time to care about something that others may find pointless and pursue it to a point where it becomes something new and important. i want to let you know that i find myself inspired!!!
interroboink 1y ago
If anybody just wants to download the hi-res images, Internet Archive is your friend: https://archive.org/details/usda-pomological-watercolor-collection https://archive.org/details/usda-pomological-watercolor-coll... You can have fun with 'em since they're public domain (: Note 1: The metadata, such as title, author, etc. seem to be missing. If anyone knows of a collection with all that included, let me know (it's not in the EXIF either, I spot-checked). EDIT: aha! Here is metadata, which you can correlate to the image files: https://github.com/Wumms/pomological https://github.com/Wumms/pomological Note 2: I saw this in the MARC catalog record: Use of the images in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection is not restricted, but a statement of attribution is required. Please use the following attribution statement: "U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705"
- biker142541 1y ago
  I'm also noticing there is no explicit license on the official page. If it's public domain, attribution is not required. If it is not public domain, they should clarify the license (pretty sure this is indeed public domain). Ambiguity like this is way too common...
  - interroboink 1y ago
    Yeah, agreed it's weird. For another data point, this catalog.data.gov site[1] lists the license as "us-pd" (ie public domain in the USA). But then yeah, like you said the attribution demand is invalid. [1] https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/u-s-department-of-agriculture-usda-pomological-watercolor-collection-750fb https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/u-s-department-of-agricultu...
- msla 1y ago
  I wonder how the USDA can demand anything regarding images created well before the copyright cutoff of 1929. I strongly suspect that's boilerplate text with no actual force.
  - 1y ago
biker142541 1y ago
Oh wow, it's been a decade! I remember this, and was excited to see these released. Nice work! This actually inspired me to go out and start (slowly) cataloging mostly historic 100+ yr old landscapes that were locked behind mostly non-US pay-to-access (cough British museums cough), and write a flurry of emails to institutions encouraging uploading high res versions. I'm contemplating a project to put historic paintings "on the map", depicting their geographically represented locations (when applicable), giving a window into the past. Maybe I should circle back on this effort to get more paintings released...
- 3dsnano 1y ago
  DO IT
- CodeLikeHell 1y ago
  I would absolutely love to see that project come to fruition.
__mharrison__ 1y ago
I think I'm going to print a few of these for my office. Thanks thisisparker
snug 1y ago
I was scrolling the page looking for links so I could see them all, until i realized the links were just slightly in bold, rather than a different color and underlined. Would be good to highlight the links a little more on your site. Awesome work either way!
- thisisparker 1y ago
  good shout, I think some recent typography changes made the bolding more subtle on mobile. I've pushed an update underlining them and it should be live momentarily!
  - snug 1y ago
    Ahh yes, much better
anothernewdude 1y ago
What on earth is Pornological about these?
- Cerium 1y ago
  Bad keming joke? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomology
- jihadjihad 1y ago
  Evil Lord Keming strikes again!
winstonrc 1y ago
Thanks to your collection, I had an absolute blast going down a silly rabbit hole of compression. https://www.winstoncooke.com/blog/rotation-based-compression/ https://www.winstoncooke.com/blog/rotation-based-compression...
dfex 1y ago
Read this as pornological. Came away disappointed.
fsckboy 1y ago
you know how "m" can look like an "rn" ligature? I swore I was going to be looking at a more acamdemic style of watercolor art in the field of pornology...
aghastnj 1y ago
I had never encountered the word 'Pomological' in my life until this article. My brain scanned it as starting with P-o-r-n, because that made more sense in context. At this point, I've made my choice. I'm not going to look up the word. (I've lived more than 50 years, it's not likely to add much value for me now.) I'm not going to read the article. (It could only disappoint...) I think less of parkerhiggins.net for tricking me with this article title. I think less of fanf2 for submitting this tricky article title. I resent even the time I've spent writing this. Bleah!

219 points by fanf2 1y ago

sorokod 1y ago

Thank you Parker Higgins, these are quite lovely.

jandrese 1y ago

[flagged]

dhosek 1y ago
poMological nor poRNological
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

DrillShopper 1y ago

There's a related story from the USDA about these: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44287019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44287019

smidgeon 1y ago

Nice apples.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

esquivalience 1y ago

> " This was my first ever project in Python, and in many ways, the start of my life as a programmer. The domino effect here is a little mind-boggling for me." I can certainly relate to this. I started scripting for very obtuse reasons, and quickly started seeing things everywhere which I could apply a little code to and improve my life.

namanyayg 1y ago

Became friends with Parker during my time at the Recurse Center. He's even more obsessed (in a good way) and funny in person! Glad to see his post on the top of HN.

thisisparker 1y ago

Blog post author here! Always happy to see people looking at and reading about these paintings. Happy to answer any questions or job offers people here may have!

ksherlock 1y ago
Thanks for your work. I used one of the pomo pictures in a project a few years back.
biker142541 1y ago
Echoing the same thanks! I have used as well personally as technique references and in several projects directly.
parkerhiggins 1y ago
incredible, impactful, and authentic read!
- thisisparker 1y ago
  lol thank you other Parker Higgins, always a pleasure to run into you here
schoen 1y ago
Hey Parker, congratulations on your NYT daily crossword publications! I solve the Daily every day and have been impressed to see your work there a number of times now.
3dsnano 1y ago
thanks for taking the time to care about something that others may find pointless and pursue it to a point where it becomes something new and important. i want to let you know that i find myself inspired!!!

interroboink 1y ago

If anybody just wants to download the hi-res images, Internet Archive is your friend: https://archive.org/details/usda-pomological-watercolor-collection https://archive.org/details/usda-pomological-watercolor-coll... You can have fun with 'em since they're public domain (: Note 1: The metadata, such as title, author, etc. seem to be missing. If anyone knows of a collection with all that included, let me know (it's not in the EXIF either, I spot-checked). EDIT: aha! Here is metadata, which you can correlate to the image files: https://github.com/Wumms/pomological https://github.com/Wumms/pomological Note 2: I saw this in the MARC catalog record: Use of the images in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection is not restricted, but a statement of attribution is required. Please use the following attribution statement: "U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705"

biker142541 1y ago
I'm also noticing there is no explicit license on the official page. If it's public domain, attribution is not required. If it is not public domain, they should clarify the license (pretty sure this is indeed public domain). Ambiguity like this is way too common...
- interroboink 1y ago
  Yeah, agreed it's weird. For another data point, this catalog.data.gov site[1] lists the license as "us-pd" (ie public domain in the USA). But then yeah, like you said the attribution demand is invalid. [1] https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/u-s-department-of-agriculture-usda-pomological-watercolor-collection-750fb https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/u-s-department-of-agricultu...
msla 1y ago
I wonder how the USDA can demand anything regarding images created well before the copyright cutoff of 1929. I strongly suspect that's boilerplate text with no actual force.
- 1y ago

biker142541 1y ago

Oh wow, it's been a decade! I remember this, and was excited to see these released. Nice work! This actually inspired me to go out and start (slowly) cataloging mostly historic 100+ yr old landscapes that were locked behind mostly non-US pay-to-access (cough British museums cough), and write a flurry of emails to institutions encouraging uploading high res versions. I'm contemplating a project to put historic paintings "on the map", depicting their geographically represented locations (when applicable), giving a window into the past. Maybe I should circle back on this effort to get more paintings released...

3dsnano 1y ago
DO IT
CodeLikeHell 1y ago
I would absolutely love to see that project come to fruition.

__mharrison__ 1y ago

I think I'm going to print a few of these for my office. Thanks thisisparker

snug 1y ago

I was scrolling the page looking for links so I could see them all, until i realized the links were just slightly in bold, rather than a different color and underlined. Would be good to highlight the links a little more on your site. Awesome work either way!

thisisparker 1y ago
good shout, I think some recent typography changes made the bolding more subtle on mobile. I've pushed an update underlining them and it should be live momentarily!
- snug 1y ago
  Ahh yes, much better

anothernewdude 1y ago

What on earth is Pornological about these?

Cerium 1y ago
Bad keming joke? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomology
jihadjihad 1y ago
Evil Lord Keming strikes again!

winstonrc 1y ago

Thanks to your collection, I had an absolute blast going down a silly rabbit hole of compression. https://www.winstoncooke.com/blog/rotation-based-compression/ https://www.winstoncooke.com/blog/rotation-based-compression...

dfex 1y ago

Read this as pornological. Came away disappointed.

fsckboy 1y ago

you know how "m" can look like an "rn" ligature? I swore I was going to be looking at a more acamdemic style of watercolor art in the field of pornology...

aghastnj 1y ago

I had never encountered the word 'Pomological' in my life until this article. My brain scanned it as starting with P-o-r-n, because that made more sense in context. At this point, I've made my choice. I'm not going to look up the word. (I've lived more than 50 years, it's not likely to add much value for me now.) I'm not going to read the article. (It could only disappoint...) I think less of parkerhiggins.net for tricking me with this article title. I think less of fanf2 for submitting this tricky article title. I resent even the time I've spent writing this. Bleah!